However, Xavier had already raised the cleaver. Without hesitation, he brought it down on Lucas’s right leg. 

“Ah!” 

I screamed, my voice sharp with terror. 

I could only watch as the blade sliced through Lucas’s flesh, cutting straight through bone. Blood splattered everywhere. 

The pain was too much. He didn’t even have time to cry out before his small body went limp. He passed out instantly. 

I stared in shock, frozen, my heart feeling as if it had been slashed open, the agony spreading through every inch of my body. 

It hurt. It hurt so much. So, so much. 

But Xavier acted as if he saw none of it. He gripped the cleaver again and aimed at Lucas’s other leg. 

Only when both legs were severed did he finally stop. He wiped the blood off his hands and quickly wrapped Lucas’s wounds with a bandage. 

When he looked up at me, his expression softened with guilt. 

“Summer, I know this isn’t fair to you or to our son. But I just… I can’t let anything happen to Wendy. 

“Don’t worry. Once she’s safe, I’ll make it up to you.” 

“Make it up to me?” 

I tried to move toward Lucas, to hold him in my arms. But I hesitated, afraid of making his injuries worse. 

Instead, I turned to Xavier, my voice laced with bitter mockery. 

“You can’t let anything happen to Wendy? Then why don’t you just die with her? 

“If she means that much to you, why did you marry me?” 

For a brief moment, guilt flickered in his eyes. But it disappeared as quickly as it came. 

He sighed impatiently. “Enough! 

“It’s just a child. If you’re that upset, we can have another one. 

“But Wendy is different. I can’t just stand by and let something happen to her.” 

I stood up and ran to the kitchen. Desperately, I grabbed some ice and packed Lucas’s severed legs, trying to preserve them. 

The sight of all that blood only made my anger sharper. 

“Right. You can’t let anything happen to her,” I spat. “So you decided my son had to be sacrificed instead.